The countryâ??s biggest potential water problem â??is what we donâ??t knowâ? about water and climate change, the University of Arizonaâ??s Nobel Prize-winning climate scientist testified in Congress today.
â??We donâ??t know what lies underground . . . We donâ??t know how climate change will affect water resources,â? said Prof. Jonathan Overpeck, director of the University of Arizonaâ??s Institute for the Study of Planet Earth, in pushing hard for more federal support of research on the effects of climate change on water supplies and on possible solutions.
He testified as his own future at the UA remains unclear. He has been one of two finalists for the position of director of the larger Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin and Madison. He has been interviewed for the job and is weighing a decision on whether to stay or leave UA. His decision is expected this week, said his wife, Julia Cole, a UA associate professor of geosciences.